Inmates released in Allen County Jail

Inmates released in Allen County Jail

Tonight... a few inmates at the allen county jail got an early ride home...the prosecutors office opting to let some inmates free who only had a few days left on their sentence as a way to prevent the spread of covid 19.fox 55's chris mullooly is live outside the allen county jail.

So chris... how many inmates were released today?hunter about 25 to 28.its a way we're told to handle the coronavirus pandemic while the department deals with severely overcrowded jails...and they aren't the only ones.

3 all quiet on thursday outside the allen county jail.a select few walking out wednesday thought they were getting an early christmas present.as they were released early."they had identified 25-28 that were in 30 days that were within release date"chief deputy michael mcalexander with the allen county prosecutors office says his office spoke with judge fran gull.they were looking at ways to manage the over-populated jail during the covid 19 pandemic...and decided to let a few go early.

And a lot of these cases were ones where they violated some release condition and were at the end of their sentence so that's what we're looking at heremcmichael says none of those released were violent offenders...most were from misdemeanor charges..

Or those who violated some form of parole.and they weren't the only ones working on a solution for overcrowded jails.

We had 105 beds and at one time 130 inmatesdekalb sheriff david cserep says they let go of a couple inmates too.if they had some underlying health issues that could be exasperated by covid 19 then we had a medical nurse give us that recommendation to clear them if they could be clear as non violentthe jail is already at maximum capacity..

And cserep says he had to send some inmates to other counties who would house them.now having to plan ahead for the health of inmates and his deputies during this pandemic.

We called a number of other departments around the area and hadn't heard back... the only other one we heard from is sheriff mawhorr in adams county.he says they have not released anyone....when we do hear back from other departments we'll let you know both on air and online.in fort wayne ... chris mullooly... fox 55 news.